Pune: Ryan International School abruptly blocks online access of students over the nonpayment of fees, parents demand a reduction in fee structure

Ryan International School Bavdhan Pune
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Mehab Qureshi

Pune, 5th August 2020: The access to online classes of at least 400 Students of Ryan International School, located in Bavdhan, has been abruptly blocked since Tuesday, over the issue of nonpayment of fees.

 

The struggle has further intensified as parents are demanding a reduction in fee structure, and have cited the government orders that bar schools from pressurising parents into paying fees amidst the lockdown. Parents have been demanding the school management to waive off fees which include transport, computer lab, library and administration fees.

 

Speaking to Punekarnews.in, a parent of a student in class IV said, “We have sent an email to Ryan International School to remove incorrect fee heads like lab/library, but they did not revert, and instead started blocking students.” When asked how this has affected the kid, the parent added, “My child has won a silver medal in English Olympiad last year and bronze in maths. How can school block students without any intimations and with unethical demands? She was distraught with this and kept trying to login after each lecture.”

 

“We are not against paying the school fee, but it has to be logical, considering the current pandemic situation. We are demanding fee restructuring, which should only include online tuition fees. As of now, they are including Lab fees, term fees (children are not attending or using any of the equipment at school). The school has also denied the requests of the PTA committee to discuss the matter. Yesterday, without any prior intimation, the school had directly blocked access of all the students due to nonpayment of the fees. Many of us are not receiving full salary or income, how we are going to afford the school fee,” said another parent.

 

“I think all of us are irked by the non-communication of the school and the suddenness and drastic nature of their action, blocking our children from class. The fees that they are demanding are the full fees with no reduction for a pandemic or unused resources. They should be reasonable,” said a parent, who is also a member of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA).

 

Punekar News sent queries to the management of the school to know their version. “The Ryan group has adhered to all government directives and is sensitive to the financial concerns faced by the parents due to the current pandemic situation. We have been running the online classes at a lot of expense in terms of additional infrastructure, training, licenses, bandwidth and equipment.We have been co-operating with and supporting parents from the past several months. To ease their situation, we have also offered a monthly payment structure to  provide financial planning flexibility. In addition, we have partnered with a third party to provide an EMI facility to the parents for fee payment and the entire interest cost of this is being picked up by the school. Even if the schools are shut, almost all our expenses in terms of teacher salaries, support staff salaries, bank loan payments,maintenance, equipment costs etc. are still the same. We are looking into all the issues raised by the parents and hope to come to a mutually agreeable solution”, said a spokesperson for Ryan group.